A beloved Fort Myers businessman was murdered. One of his former employees is spending life in prison. Epi Leal was gunned down at his house at 4241 Woodside Avenue on Thursday night, April 9, 2007. He was found outside his home, dead, with a gunshot wound to his head. The arrest report said the crime was planned by Pedro Cruz, 29, who worked in one of Epi’s tire shops. The report also said that 16-year-old Raul Zavala pulled the trigger, and also stated that he helped plan the crime.

Detectives said that Pedro didn’t take part in the attack, but threatened to harm anyone who backed out. He was said to have organized the date, time and how they would split the stolen cash. But investigators say things took a turn for the worse when Epi started to fight back. The evidence shows that Epi tried to fight off his attackers before being shot. He was even able to pull a mask off of one of the thieves.

Joshua Bauer and Filiberto Quiroga were also implicated for Epi’s murder. Joshua received a conviction of first-degree murder with a life sentence. Filiberto received a second-degree murder charge and was also sentenced to life. Raul was also found guilty of second-degree murder, and is expected to be released in 2023. Pedro received a conviction of second-degree murder (attempted) and was released from prison in 2013.